Saturday was a sight to behold for Columbians. Hundreds of children were on hand to celebrate the grand opening of Friendship Park’s $1.2 million state-of-the-art playground and played to their hearts’ content.
Mayor Justin McKenzie said God showed favor in gifting Columbia with a beautiful day after heavy rainfall Friday and was excited to announce that it was “a new day to play” at Friendship Park.
“This thing would not have happened, could not have happened, without the help of so many people,” McKenzie said. “(Columbia Strong) has been such a joy to work with. They are so important to our community with the things that they do — the recovery efforts following the 2014 tornado and the recent tornadoes — and the involvement they had with this project has been monumental. It just wouldn’t have happened without some of their team members or great leadership all the way around.”
He also thanked the Friendship Park Advisory Committee, Board of Aldermen and Rep. Ken Morgan, R-Morgantown, for supporting progress in Columbia. He closed by saying there are a lot of good things going on in Columbia currently with a lot of great energy and that he’s proud to be a small part of it.
Rene Dungan, who is one of the leaders of the park committee and Columbia Strong, said it is like a dream to see the vision for Friendship Park come to life.
“One of the committee members said earlier, ‘I had no idea this is what we were going for.’ Congrats to everyone who helped. There were so many people who helped,” she explained. “When you build something like this, you need vision, you need ideas, you need designs, but you also need money. We are so, so fortunate that we had some major donors.”
Dungan highlighted the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation, which donated $300,000; Southern Tire Mart, $100,000; and Citizens Bank, $50,000. On top of the large donations, an additional $650,000 was raised locally to cover the $1.2 million price tag.
Phyllis Taylor with the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation said she intentionally did not visit the park when it was under construction so that she could take it all in at once. Her reaction was succinct but powerful.
“Wow!” she exclaimed.
She said she wanted to keep it brief because she could see there were far more children amped to start playing than there were adults who would care about what she had to say. She then addressed the children directly.
“Enjoy this facility. Remember to play and not worry about your phones except maybe to take a picture. You don’t have to play your games because you can have more fun with your friends, so let’s cut this ribbon, open the gate and have a great time,” she closed.
Ward 4 Aldermen Mike Smith echoed Taylor’s sentiment as the first word out of his mouth was “wow!”
“It’s just amazing because we started this two years ago. To see it come to fruition is just amazing,” he said. “To see all this, Columbia is moving forward. This is another deal we have going for us. We’re just so appreciative of everyone who helped with it, Phyllis Taylor and the Taylor Foundation — just everybody came together to make it a community event. This park is going to be here a long time.”
Alderwoman-at-Large Andrea Porter said it is very exciting to see all the hard work and investment finally pay off.
“I have a child myself, and we have ridden by here and watched the progress and we couldn’t wait for today. He has tested all of the equipment and approves of everything. I see all of the other kids,” she said while standing in the middle of the playground 10 minutes after the gate opened, “and they look like they approve, too. It’s great.”
It has been a long road to make it to the grand opening, and there was no shortage of chatter about it throughout the community for years on end. Porter said seeing all the children having fun on a Spring day made it all worth it.
“We wanted to carefully select each piece of equipment, the colors, everything, so that it would be safe, long-lasting and attract people from all over as well as the kids in our community. That’s what led to the long length, but it was worth it,” she said. “The park is in a historic district as well as situated in a very public view in between our high school, our library and our athletic facilities, so we wanted to make sure it was something that fit in well with what we have.”
The park was specifically built with a wide open concept to give parents and guardians full visibility. Safety was also a primary concern, leading to handicap accessible attractions and specific features.
“What I saw during the construction phase that a lot of people don’t realize is it was meticulous as far as the grading (of the rubber surface) and pouring of everything. The lower height equipment and the general play areas have thinner rubber, but the higher the equipment the thicker the rubber,” Porter explained. “That takes a lot of planning and engineering to get that done for the best safety.”
Porter also added that the board recently amended its food ordinance for City Park, which now allows food trucks Monday through Saturday with a permit from City Hall. She said there are a lot of people who go to the park to eat lunch, and the hope is some food trucks will choose to set up at the park.
